Macbook Pro vs. Macbook Air

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Hi guys, I have a REALLY old computer, an early 2007 13" Macbook with an 80 gig hard drive and an Intel GMA 950 graphics card. I am going to upgrade in the near future, but I am stuck with a dilemma: Should I get the Macbook Pro or the Macbook Air? I am debating getting either a 13" Pro or 13" Air. They are in the same price range.

I really like the compact size of the air and its flash memory; however, I can only afford the 128 gig flash. I plan to run boot camp or VMWare Fusion on my laptop, so I don't know if 128 gigs will be enough. I will also be having games and intensive programs like photoshop, so I am seriously doubting the wisdom of getting a 128 gig Macbook Air. That is the only thing that is stopping me from getting it.

It all boils down to this: Should I sacrifice more than 350 gigs of drive space for the compactness and speed of the air, or should I have more space with the clunky Pro? I'm on the fence here. HELP! Thanks!
 
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I would really consider the Pro over the Air. 128GB is a VERY small hard drive, and without the ability to upgrade the size, you may be forced to use an external, which totally ruins the whole element of the ultra-portable and compact MBA.

Also 3 years from now, when 4GB is extremely lean on RAM, and you want to upgrade, you'll easily be able to with the MBP, the MBA, not so much.
 

chscag

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I agree with MacDude. The Pro will allow you to upgrade the memory and the hard drive. And if you don't care about the optical drive in the Pro, it can be replaced with an SSD.

Both machines have identical graphics except with the fixed system memory of the Air, the GPU will always be limited
to 256MB of borrowed memory. The MBP with 8 GB of system memory installed will give you 512MB of borrowed memory for the graphics.
 
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I would also go for the Pro considering the stuff you plan to do with the computer. (Boot camp, vmware, photoshop, some gaming). Using applications like this really like RAM and hard drive space.

Go for the Pro, upgrade RAM to 8GB (do it yourself!) and upgrade to a SSD drive when they get cheaper. :)
 
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Think in terms of must have's and nice to have's.

Sounds to me like compactness is a nice to have, while hard drive capacity is a must have.

I've got the basic 11" air as my primary and sole computer. I love it. It's just right for me. Sounds like it might not be for you.
 
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I would really consider the Pro over the Air. 128GB is a VERY small hard drive, and without the ability to upgrade the size, you may be forced to use an external, which totally ruins the whole element of the ultra-portable and compact MBA.

Also 3 years from now, when 4GB is extremely lean on RAM, and you want to upgrade, you'll easily be able to with the MBP, the MBA, not so much.

3 years from now it won't matter since it'll be time for a whole new computer anyway.
 
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I would go the the MBP as well. My friend has the 13 and i would hardly call it clunky. At that point its a matter of maybe a half inch of thickness and your getting a TON more abilities, not to mention more space. Just as a matter of ports i would go with the MBP besides what everyone else said here. My MBP has 2 USB, cat5, firewire 400/800, DVI, and 2 audio jacks. Not to mention you wont need to purchase an external DVD drive to play things. My aunt has the air, and while they are very cool and thin. For anyone that wants to do more then check email and surf the web its really not a practical purchase. Especially for what you can get for the same cash(MPB 13). Hope this helps
 
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Oh and one more thing...The 2008 MPB is one of the only early models that can take 6GB of RAM!!!! Which is a huge plus, i did this about a year ago!
 
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3 years from now it won't matter since it'll be time for a whole new computer anyway.

Highly disagree there. Macs are not like PC's where you have to replace them every 3 years. I know for a fact that there are many people here still using Macs that are going on 5 years old now as their main computers.
 
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That could be because macs are so expensive we can't afford to keep up with the times ;D
 

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